WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine and three other Republican senators announced a six-year, $60 billion plan Wednesday to help Amtrak, countering a Bush administration proposal that would reduce federal support for passenger rail service.

The plan by four members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee would give Amtrak the $2 billion in annual operating subsidies it has requested. The plan also calls for issuing $48 billion in bonds to raise money for repairs and track construction.

“The reason that Amtrak is always coming up short and running to the Congress to say, ‘We need more money,’ is because we have starved them to death,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, the bill’s author. “Amtrak has been a stepchild in the national transportation system.”

The four Republican senators – Snowe, Hutchison, Trent Lott of Mississippi and Conrad Burns of Montana – represent states outside Amtrak’s busiest corridor, between Boston and Washington. They have adopted the motto “National or Nothing” to highlight their view that Amtrak must devote more money to improve and expand service throughout the nation.

Under their bill, for every dollar in capital funds spent in the Northeast, four dollars would be spent elsewhere.

The senators acknowledged the challenge in proposing a major spending initiative at a time of federal deficits.

“You are talking about real money,” Lott said. “But we have to make up our minds in America: Do we want a national rail passenger system or not?”

The administration’s six-year plan for Amtrak would end Amtrak’s monopoly on intercity passenger rail service, minimize federal subsidies and promote competition among railroad operators.

Lott was critical of that plan, which was offered Tuesday.

“If after 21/2 years that’s all they can come up with, they ought to be ashamed,” he said. “It is a guarantee to fail.”

Snowe cited how Amtrak’s new Boston-to-Portland service has positively affected Maine and its travelers.

“Amtrak’s new Boston-to-Portland Downeaster service has brought less highway congestion, cleaner air, economic development opportunities for businesses and communities, and easier access to the state for tourists.

In fact, it’s estimated that over 88,000 new tourists visit Maine every year by rail, with an annual economic impact projected to be $48.5 million, including over 1,400 new jobs and $2.2 million in sales tax revenue,” Snowe said Wednesday.

Snowe said she also secured an agreement from Hutchison that the final legislation when brought to the Senate floor will contain a provision for the high-speed rail corridor to extend its current terminus at Auburn, Maine, to Montreal, Quebec.

“Extending this corridor is the first step toward establishing Montreal-to-Portland rail service, which will further connect Maine to the national transportation network and pump millions of dollars into the state’s tourism industry,” Snowe said.

With the House already on its August recess and the Senate planning to leave Friday, Congress has only September to consider Amtrak plans before the budget year ends.

The administration has said it will give Amtrak no more than $900 million for the budget year that begins Oct. 1 unless Amtrak is restructured. Amtrak has warned it needs at least $1.8 billion to keep the trains running.

Hutchison said she believes a compromise of about $1.4 billion “will be sufficient for Amtrak.”